CHENNAI: This Sunday, December 6, the day that has been marked by protests, agitations and rallies for over two decades since the demolition of Babri Masjid, there was not even a single protest anywhere in the city or its neighbourhood. For, all the organisations that have always been in the forefront of these protests were busy this time, attending to the calamity that struck during this monsoon.
Rescuing the stranded, offering relief to the affected, offering them succour in their worst hours was their jihad this time around.
“This is the real jihad,” said Manithaneya Makkal Katchi leader and Ramanathapuram MLA MH Jawahirullah. “This year, we chose to help people like we did during the aftermath of tsunami. We believe that the relief efforts we undertook have had a meaningful impact on the campaigns against the community,” he added. The efforts have an effect on religious harmony, said the senior leader, recalling an instance where an elderly Brahmin couple whom they rescued in Villivakkam SIDCO Nagar said “sorry”. “We did not understand why they said that, until they revealed that they were part of the local campaign against renting out houses for Muslims,” Jawahirullah said.
According to police sources, as many as 11 Islamic outfits have sought permission to stage protests to commemorate the Babri anniversary. India Thowheed Jamaath (INTJ), Popular Front of India (PFI), TMMK and MMK were among them. “But not even a single outfit went ahead with the protests. We did not talk them to drop their protests, they did it on their own,” said a senior police official from the city police.